Theatre troupe transforms history through performance art

Huzzah Theatre Troupe members rehearse their upcoming historical musical, Take Care of Barbara. The play captures the experiences growing up during the Great Depression, WWII, and Korean War while living in Sheboygan.(Photo11: Phillip Bock/USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin)

SHEBOYGAN - A small theatre troupe of best friends is transforming true-life stories of history through the power of performance art.

The Huzzah Theatre Troupe first took to the stage in 2014 for an original production called "The Lucky Ones," which told stories of World War II through stories of Eugene and Alice Hilke, the grandparents of one of the troupe's founders, Colleen Machut.

The group is now preparing to debut their second original production called "Take Care of Barbara," which will feature the stories and experiences of a Sheboygan-area woman growing up during the Great Depression, World War II, and the Korean War.

“She’s actually one of my colleague’s mothers, and my colleague was telling me about how she had an interesting story about how she was a child when World War II ended and she had really vivid memories from that,” Colleen Machut said. “We thought it was a unique perspective looking at how a child would view that.”

Her sometimes heart-warming, sometimes poignant stories are expressed through various art forms during the approximately 1-hour performance, including songwriting, poetry, visual art, and creative movement and dance.

“One of the songs we have in there is about her buying a bike,” troupe member Trent Machut said. “People now would say ‘what do you mean? You just go to the store and buy a bike.’ Back then there was a waiting list and she had to save for years for it. It was such a bigger experience for her to aim for something like that.”

Their first performance of the show will be at 3 p.m., Friday, June 24, at the Howards Grove Community Center.

The group of six friends formed the theatre group about five years ago as an outlet for their creative energies, such as poetry, music, and movement. Each member of the group has their specialties, and the group combines their art into a multi-format musical.

“We all kind of do everything, but there are certain people who take the lead on certain art forms,” Colleen Machut said. “We come with our area of expertise, and when we go over those interviews we come at it with those unique perspectives.”

To transform history into art, the group sat down with Barbara and heard her stories, listening for pivotal moments and themes in her life to transform. Take Care of Barbara features nine songs, three poems, choreographed dances and interpretive movements, skits, and monologues lifted from Barbara's words during the interview.

“Learning about Barbara’s life, we learned about the amazing people she had in her life and how they touched her life. She took what she learned from them and applied it to everything in her life," troupe member Kelsey Vohen said. “It’s amazing to see how people can touch your life and how you can use that to grow and touch other people’s lives.”

Colleen and Trent Machut of the Huzzah Theatre Troupe rehearse a song from their upcoming historical musical, Take Care of Barbara.(Photo11: Phillip Bock/USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin)

The group said the new show is lighter and more family-friendly than their previous show, which was a little dark due to themes and stories shared from World War II.

In an effort to share the experiences of other local people who lived during The Great Depression and World War II eras, the troupe, started The Live Forever Project. Through the project, troupe members seek out and interview individuals in the Sheboygan and Manitowoc areas to put their experiences into theatrical performances.

“The idea is if we preserve these stories and share them, the stories will live forever,” Colleen Machut said. “We’ve expanded that to want to preserve more stories, so we’ve reached out into the community to gather all kinds of stories. We focus on the elderly, because their stories are disappearing faster.”

More performances of Take Care of Barbara will be announced later this summer. Fore more information, visit the troupe's webpage at www.huzzahtroupe.com.

The group is continually looking for more people to interview for their "Live Forever Project." For more information, email huzzahtroupe@gmail.com.